Our Story

Raven + Lily is a lifestyle brand offering trend-forward fair trade fashion, accessories, and home goods with its core underlying mission to empower women on a global scale. Today, the brand helps to employ more than 1,500 artisan women around the world, providing them with a fair trade wage and access to a safe job, sustainable income, healthcare, and other tools they need to thrive. Additionally, every purchase of a Raven + Lily product helps fund microloans to female entrepreneurs in our partnership communities.

Raven + Lily was founded initially as a non profit in 2008 through the volunteer efforts of several Los Angeles based designers. In 2011 the company moved into the for-profit business model and is now based in Austin, Texas. Kirsten Dickerson and Sophia Lin were the original founders who partnered with local designers that wanted to give back to women worldwide. With the combined experiences in both the design world and humanitarian/non-profit world, Raven + Lily was at the forefront of exploring how to develop a brand that could have a significant impact on women without compromising quality or style. While Kirsten remains at the helm of Raven + Lily today, the company will always be grateful for all the women who believed in its mission and helped contribute to making Raven + Lily a significant player in the ethical fashion movement today.

Raven + Lily believes in empowering women. When women are empowered to earn an income, they reinvest 90% of their income back into health, education, food, children, family, and the community. Our partners set the price we pay, ensuring a livable wage. This empowers the 1500+ women employed by our work to break the cycle of poverty through equitable trade and open communication. We research the source of our materials, down to the button in order to understand how our production cycle impacts people and the planet at every stage. By using recycled or repurposed materials, we stop the waste that typically accompanies the industry.